News from Berry Land
It’s no secret that there are blueberries at Chik-Wauk, especially on the granite clifftops along the Big Sag hiking trail.
In fact, the Chik-Wauk Nature Center is a veritable berry land. You’ll find raspberries galore amongst the blueberries.
Our neighbors to the north, the Canucks, have a penchant for saskatoons (also known as juneberries and/or serviceberries). We have a fruiting saskatoon bush right along the pathway up from the parking lot.
The saskatoons, which are really just enormous blueberries on a large shrub, have a tougher skin and larger seed than blueberries and taste a little mealy to the Minnesotan palate.
While there are plenty of saskatoons around (and slipping a couple into your blueberry bucket will make it fill up so much faster), people around these parts generally prefer the taste of blueberries and although some Canadians swear that saskatoon pies are “the best”, most of us remain unswayed from our blueberry pie and blueberry jam.
Bunchberries are another berry you’ll find in the Chik-Wauk woods.
You can eat bunchberries, but you might wonder why you bothered. Although the bright red berries look pretty luscious, the berries are basically flavorless. They’re great if you just want a little hit of hydration while you’re hiking though.
But whatever you pick, don’t be tempted by the bright blue seed pod on the bluebead lily plants. This “berry” is actually poisonous: not a good addition to the berry bucket at all!
Happy Berrying!